Item is a photograph of three men and three women having their photograph taken in front of a cutout of the "Blue Bell" ferry in Toronto, possibly taken at the Toronto islands. Rear, left to right: Joe Cash; [Oscar?] Leibman; Mr. Morrison.

Notes

From the Seymour and Abi Shatz Collection.

Name Access

Cash, Joe

Leibman, Sher

Morrison

Subjects

Ferries

Repro Restriction

Copyright is in the public domain and permission for use is not required. Please credit the Ontario Jewish Archives as the source of the photograph.

Accession consists of textual records, photographs and audio recordings documenting the lives of Dick Steele, his wife Esther and friend Bill Walsh. The materials are mostly correspondences between Dick and Esther during his internment at the Don Jail and Ontario Reformatory in Guelph, and from Dick and Bill's military service overseas during the Second World War. They also include correspondences between Esther and Bill, Bill and Anne Walsh, "Jack" and Esther, and other family and friends. Some of the letters show evidence of being censored. There are news clippings in English and Yiddish about the family from various newspapers including the Canadian Tribune (a Communist Party paper). There is a letter Esther wrote to campaign for Dick's release from internment, part of women's activism in this period. There is also a photocopy of a memoir written by Moses Kosowatsky and Moses Wolofsky "From the Land of Despair to the Land of Promise" ca. 1930s.
The photographs include Dick and Bill in the army during the Second World War, a signed picture of Tim Buck addressed to Esther and the twins and a photo of Dick delivering a speech related to the Steel Workers. Also included is a recording of edited sound clips of Bill and Esther talking about Dick, Esther speaking about the letters, (how she received letters and flowers from Dick after he had already been killed), Bill reading a letter Dick wrote to Esther that he left with friends in England to send her in the case that he was killed (which he was), recordings of "Bill Walsh Oral history" Vols.1 and 2 compiled by Leib Wolofsky's (Bill's nephew), and 5 audio recordings by Adrianna Steele-Card with her grandparents Bill and Esther. There is also a microcassette labelled "Joe Levitt."
The accession also includes the stripe of a German corporal that Bill captured as a prisoner, peace stamps and an early copy of Cy Gonick's A Very Red Life: The Story of Bill Walsh, edited by Bill.

Administrative History

Richard (Dick) Kennilworth Steele is the name adopted by Moses Kosowatsky. He was born in 1909 in Montreal to Samuel Kosowatsky and Fanny Held. He lived in a laneway off Clark Street below Sherbrooke where his father collected and recycled bottles. He grew up with his siblings Joseph, Mortimer, Matthew, Gertrude and Edward.
Bill Walsh (Moishe Wolofsky) was born in 1910, to Sarah and Herschel Wolofsky, the Editor of the Keneder Adler (Montreal's prominent Yiddish newspaper). He attended Baron Byng and then Commercial High School where he met Dick Steele. Bill recalled that Dick denounced militarism in the school when a teacher tried to recruit students to be cadets.
Bill moved to New York City in 1927. His brother, who was living there, helped him get a job as a messenger on Wall Street. He also worked in the drug department at Macy's while attending courses at Columbia University in the evening. Dick worked on a ship for a year and then joined Bill in New York City in 1928. Dick worked at a chemical plant called Linde Air Products while also studying in the evenings at Columbia University.
In 1931 Dick and Bill boarded a ship together in New York bound for Copenhagen. Together they travelled across Europe, witnessed a Nazi demonstration in Breslau, Germany and found work in Minsk and Moscow, Russia. This trip inspired them to become Communists. In 1933 Bill's father was on a Canadian trade mission to Poland, which he left to "rescue" his son from the Bolsheviks. Bill agreed to return to Canada after being advised to do so by the Comintern. He then changed his name to Bill Walsh to protect his family.
In 1934 Bill moved to Toronto. He worked as the Educational Director for the Industrial Union of Needle Trade Workers and the Communist Party where he met Esther Slominsky/Silver, the organization's office manager. Dick joined Bill in Toronto soon after. Bill introduced Dick and Esther who then married. In 1940, Esther gave birth to twin sons Michael and John Steele. Esther was born in Toronto in 1914 to Joseph Slominsky and Fanny (Blackersany?). Her siblings were Bella, Eileen, Morris and step-sister Eva. Her father Joseph was a cloak maker and Esther also worked in the garment industry. Her mother Fanny passed away in 1920 at the age of 26 from tuberculosis.
Dick was a metal worker and became a union organizer in the east end of Toronto. He was the head organizer of the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO) and the Steel Workers Organizing Committee of Canada (SWOC) until 1940 when he was dismissed for being a Communist. Bill helped organize Kitchener's rubber workers into an industrial union and was also an organizer for the United Auto Workers of Windsor, Ontario.
Jack Steele, an alias for Dick's brother Mortimer, fought with the Mackenzie-Papineau Brigade in the Spanish Civil War. Jack Steele was recalled to Canada in October 1937 to rally support for the efforts in Spain, returned to the front in June 1938 and was killed in action in August. Some of Dick's letters to his wife Esther are signed "Salud, Jack" and were likely written in 1940 when the Communist Party (CP) was banned by the Canadian Government under the War Measures Act.
In November 1941, after Mackenzie King's call for enlistment, Dick wrote to the Department of Justice to ask permission to join the army. He never received a reply. On 1 April 1942 Dick's home was raided and he was interned at the Don Jail until September 1942 when he was moved to the Ontario Reformatory in Guelph. Esther wrote a letter to Louis St. Laurent, Minister of Justice to appeal on his behalf.
Major public campaigning by communists and the wartime alliance with the USSR after 1941 shifted public opinion toward the CP and the Canadian Government slowly began releasing internees in January 1942. Dick was released in October 1942 and enlisted at the end of the month. Dick died on August 17, 1944 in Normandy, France. He was a tank driver in the Canadian Army.
Bill was similarly arrested in 1941, spending time in jail and then an internment camp with other members of the CP. He joined the Canadian army in 1943 and fought in Holland and Belgium. Bill was first married to Anne Weir who died of a brain hemorrhage in 1943 just before he enlisted. The family believes this may have been due to drinking unpasteurized milk. Encouraged by Dick Steele to take care of his family should he pass in the war, Bill married Esther Steele in 1946. They had a daughter named Sheri and were members of the United Jewish People's Order. For 20 years Walsh worked for the Hamilton region of the United Electrical Workers (UE). Bill remained a member of the CP until 1967 when we was expelled for criticizing another union leader. He died in 2004. Esther passed away in 2010 at age 96.

Use Conditions

Partially closed. Researchers must receive permission from the OJA Director prior to accessing some of the records.

Descriptive Notes

RELATED MATERIAL NOTE: Library and Archives Canada has the William Walsh fonds and MG 28, ser. I 268, USWA, vol.4, SWOC Correspondence, has various letters from Dick Steele ca. 1938. Museum of Jewish Montreal has an oral history with Leila Mustachi (daughter of Max Wolofsky, Bill's brother) where she speaks about Bill, Dick and Esther.
USE CONDITION NOTES: For "Bill Walsh Oral history" Vols.1 and 2, some contributors stipulate that recordings are restricted to personal use only and must not be used for any commercial purpose.

Lilian Rosenthal is the daughter of Holocaust survivors Miriam Rosenthal (née Schwarcz) and Rabbi William Rosenthal. She grew up in Sudbury, Ontario with her siblings, Leslie and Murray.

Lilian's parents were born in eastern Europe and came to Canada in 1947. They lived in Timmins for a year before moving to Sudbury, where William ("Bela") served as a rabbi, cantor, and teacher for sixteen years.

In 1965, the family moved to Toronto and Miriam and William opened a Judaica store at the corner Bathurst Street and Caribou Road. Together, Lilian's parents ran the store for more than forty years until retiring in 2007. William died on 11 April 2008; Miriam died on 10 February 2018.

Use Conditions

Copyright may not be held by the Ontario Jewish Archives. It is the responsibility of the researcher to obtain permission prior to use.

Descriptive Notes

Availabilityusc of other formats: Digital access copies (jpg) have been created.

Finding aids: A short description including dates and identification is available for each photograph.

Associated material: The USC Shoah Foundation produced an oral history with Miriam Rosenthal, which has been digitized.

This item is a copy print of a Hebrew Sunday school class in Fort William (Thunder Bay), Ontario. The photograph depicts several young children and their teacher standing on the front steps of the Shaarey Shomayim Synagogue.

Name Access

Shaarey Shomayim Congregation (Thunder Bay, Ont.)

Subjects

Students

Repro Restriction

Original owned by the Manitoba Archives, Jewish Historical Society of Western Canada collection. Please credit accordingly.

Photograph of the Herzl Girls' Zionist Society on what is probably Toronto Island. Ida Siegel is second from the left in the back row. Betty Goldstick was an active member of this organization and was likely included in this photograph.

Subjects

Portraits, Group

Societies

Zionists

Repro Restriction

Copyright is in the public domain and permission for use is not required. Please credit the Ontario Jewish Archives as the source of the photograph.

Related Material

The textual records for the Herzl Girls' Zionist Society that Betty donated can be found in MG2J1K.

This item is an original print of the float created by the Fort William (Thunder Bay) Jewish community for King George VI's coronation parade. The float is a car covered in a white fabric, simulating the King's robe, and is topped with a crown. On the side of the car is a Star of David with the words: "blessed be their reign".

Name Access

George VI, King of Great Britain, 1895-1952

Subjects

Parade floats

Repro Restriction

Copyright is in the public domain and permission for use is not required. Please credit the Ontario Jewish Archives as the source of the photograph.

This item is a copy print and corresponding negative of two men seated in a horse-drawn wagon on the Canadian Jewish Farm School in Georgetown, Ontario. Identified on the right is Charles Steinfeld (?).

Name Access

Canadian Jewish Farm School (Georgetown, Ont.)

Subjects

Farms

Wagons

Repro Restriction

Copyright is in the public domain and permission for use is not required. Please credit the Ontario Jewish Archives as the source of the photograph.

This item is a copy print and corresponding negative of a boy seated on a horse-drawn tiller at the Canadian Jewish Farm School in Georgetown, Ontario. Also pictured is a man standing next to the machine.

Name Access

Canadian Jewish Farm School (Georgetown, Ont.)

Subjects

Boys

Farms

Plows

Repro Restriction

Copyright is in the public domain and permission for use is not required. Please credit the Ontario Jewish Archives as the source of the photograph.

This item is a copy print and corresponding negative of a group of boys eating a meal together outside at the Canadian Jewish Farm School in Georgetown, Ontario. Pictured in the front row, second from the left is Dave Goldfarb.

Notes

This photograph is very similar to photo #1660.

Name Access

Canadian Jewish Farm School (Georgetown, Ont.)

Goldfarb, Dave

Subjects

Farms

Repro Restriction

Copyright is in the public domain and permission for use is not required. Please credit the Ontario Jewish Archives as the source of the photograph.

This item is a copy print and corresponding negative of a group of boys eating a meal together outside at the Canadian Jewish Farm School in Georgetown, Ontario. Pictured in the front row, second from the left is Dave Goldfarb.

Notes

This photograph is very similar to photo #1659.

Name Access

Canadian Jewish Farm School (Georgetown, Ont.)

Goldfarb, Dave

Subjects

Farms

Repro Restriction

Copyright is in the public domain and permission for use is not required. Please credit the Ontario Jewish Archives as the source of the photograph.

This item is a copy print and corresponding negative of a group of children in the barnyard of the Canadian Jewish Farm School in Georgetown, Ontario. The children are standing with a group of chickens. Identified second from left is Rivka (?) and fifth from left is Sura Liba Goldman (?).

Name Access

Canadian Jewish Farm School (Georgetown, Ont.)

Subjects

Farms

Repro Restriction

Copyright is in the public domain and permission for use is not required. Please credit the Ontario Jewish Archives as the source of the photograph.

This item is a copy print and corresponding negative of one man and two boys standing with three horses at the Canadian Jewish Farm School in Georgetown, Ontario. The photograph was taken during the winter.

Name Access

Canadian Jewish Farm School (Georgetown, Ont.)

Subjects

Farms

Repro Restriction

Copyright is in the public domain and permission for use is not required. Please credit the Ontario Jewish Archives as the source of the photograph.

This item is a copy print and corresponding negative of four boys with Mr. Danilak at the Canadian Jewish Farm School in Georgetown, Ontario. The boys are dressed in suits. Identified standing in front is Leo Rogul (?).

Name Access

Canadian Jewish Farm School (Georgetown, Ont.)

Danilak, Mr.

Rogul, Leo

Subjects

Farms

Repro Restriction

Copyright is in the public domain and permission for use is not required. Please credit the Ontario Jewish Archives as the source of the photograph.

This item is a copy print and corresponding negative of Mr. Danilak and an unidentified man with three boys, standing in the fields at the Canadian Jewish Farm School in Georgetown, Ontario. Identified second from left is Eli Freedman.

Name Access

Canadian Jewish Farm School (Georgetown, Ont.)

Danilak, Mr.

Freeman, Eli

Subjects

Farms

Repro Restriction

Copyright is in the public domain and permission for use is not required. Please credit the Ontario Jewish Archives as the source of the photograph.